urkahli 2).Finally the British burst forth with all strength and knocked down the gates. By September the 20th the entire city was in British hands. After this victory Britain showed her gratitude by giving the Gurkhas the battle honor Delhi and officially styling them “Riflemen,” rather then the common term “sepoy” (Farwell 51).The Gurkhas also took part in the 2nd Afghanistan War of 1878-80 (Nepal 201). It was here that there reputation was again enhanced and they won no less the five battle honors (Masters 106).The 20th century brought with it a whole new war and the Gurkhas were not about to be left out, in all over 200,000 Gurkhas joined. On October 29th , 1914, the first Gurkhas, the 2/8th, arrived on the western front and went into the trenches near Festubert. Before they had even settled in they were attacked by the Germans, an offensive maneuver that they barely managed to beat off. This was a new kind of warfare for them and the other battalions fared not much better during the first few months of the war. Still, they were not long in distinguishing themselves despite all their disadvantages. In December of 1914 (Farwell 90) scouts from the 1/4th went out to cut the enemies’ wire. There were only four survivors and two of them were awarded the Indian Order of Merit. Great heroism was exhibited by rifleman Gane Gurung of the 2/3rd. He noticed heavy enemy fire coming from a battered farmhouse in Neuve Chapelle. He made a one-man attack and captured 8 German prisoners. For his gallant effort he was awarded the Indian Order of Merit (Farwell 93) Soon winter was over and the summer was spent recuperating by both sides. Then in September came the Battle of Loos. The British blew a huge mine under the German trenches and laid down heavy bombardments. Under the cover of smoke shells, the Meerut Division including the 2/8th and 2/3rd were sent out to lead the attack. However, the noise and...
